fbackup

[Jerome Bauwens]

I have a special backup to do and I intend to use fbackup to do so. The problem is that I have 56 Gb to backup as my DDS3 tapes can hold up to 24 Gb. Does fbackup allows multiple volumes and does it ask you to put a new tape in the drive. Is redirecting the standard output enough if I submit my job fron the crontab so that someone newbie will be able to understand the moment to get the new tape in the drive ?
Thanks

[James R. Ferguson · Accepted solution]

Hi:

Yes, 'fbackup' supports copies to multiple tapes by asking the operator if he wishes to continue with a new volume.

You need to implement a 'chgvol' script to accomodate unattended operations.

Technical Knowledge Base document #KBRC00001392
describes how to implement such a script under the conditions you desire.

Regards!

...JRF...

[James R. Ferguson]

Hi (again) Jerome:

I should add that you should *always* have an 'fbackup' file with parameters that optimize performance and tape usage. The default values provided in the absence of an explicit 'config' file (see the man pages for 'fbackup') are extremely poor with modern tape drives and tapes.

Use these value:

blocksperrecord 128
records 32
checkpointfreq 1024
readerprocesses 6
maxretries 5
retrylimit 5000000
maxvoluses 100
filesperfsm 1000
chgvol /var/adm/fbackupfiles/chgvol

Regards!

...JRF...